Police deploy tear gas, shoot projectiles at ICE protesters in downtown Las Vegas
Tear gas was deployed by police as several hundred people gathered and marched in downtown Las Vegas on Wednesday night to protest the Trump administration’s enforcement tactics against illegal immigration.
The protest started Wednesday evening at the corner of South Las Vegas Boulevard and East Clark Avenue, and was part of a growing number of demonstrations taking place in cities across the country against enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Metropolitan Police Department used tear gas at about 9:30 p.m., causing people to start running and screaming, after police said in a post on X just after 9 p.m. that the gathering was “unlawful” because protesters were “engaging in illegal activity.” One critic said police didn’t specify what exactly was unlawful. Police were also shooting projectiles.
“We have declared an unlawful assembly at Las Vegas Boulevard and Clark due to protestors engaging in illegal activity,” the Metro X post said.
The post said a dispersal order has been issued.
“Failure to leave can result in arrest or citation,” police said in the post.
We have declared an unlawful assembly at Las Vegas Boulevard and Clark due to protestors engaging in illegal activity. A dispersal order has been issued. Failure to leave can result in arrest or citation.
— LVMPD (@LVMPD) June 12, 2025
Protesters gathered in front of the Federal Justice Tower at 501 Las Vegas Blvd. South, home to the Las Vegas field office of ICE. Protesters waved American and Mexican flags and carried signs. “No human is illegal,” one sign said.
The use of tear gas and projectiles against protesters is a First Amendment issue, said Athar Hasseebullah, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, in a post on X Wednesday night.
“We will have follow-ups tomorrow after a review of tonight, but kettling protestors and then firing pepperballs at people and using tear gas is a #1A issue,” Hasseebullah said.
The ACLU of Nevada had “legal observers on the ground” at the protest, Hasseebullah said in another X post.
To be clear, we aren’t protest coordinators and today’s (to our knowledge) wasn’t a coordinated effort. We will have follow-ups tomorrow after a review of tonight, but kettling protestors and then firing pepperballs at people and using tear gas is a #1A issue. https://t.co/83PW8aLwpl
— Athar Haseebullah, Esq. (@atharesq) June 12, 2025
“Dispersal order from LVMPD, not audible to all, declared unlawful assembly without clarity on what unlawful activity existed during peaceful protest with large crowd size,” Hasseebullah said on X.
Serenity Vasquez, 19, of Las Vegas said she wanted to be at the protest to support immigrant communities.
“I come from a Latino family and seeing everything on the news about what’s happening in L.A., it’s heartbreaking,” Vasquez said. “We wanted to come out peacefully tonight to show that we see what’s happening and that we want to be heard.”
Matteline Becker of Henderson said she felt it was important for her as a “white person” to attend the protest.
“I know I have a lot of privilege in this country,” Becker said. “I feel like the way things are being done is wrong and unethical. It’s important for our voices to be heard so the government can see it’s not the right way to go about things.”
Becker, 40, also said she attended because she knows many others couldn’t attend, for various reasons.
“I need to be the voice of the people who it’s not safe for,” Becker said.
Stephanie Gentry of Henderson was one of the organizers of the event.
She said that she believes “violent attacks on neighborhoods” have been happening in recent days in Los Angeles and that Wednesday’s protest in Las Vegas was partly to be “in solidarity” with people affected in Southern California.
“It’s a violation of human rights,” Gentry said.
Protests over ICE arrests and President Donald Trump’s move to deploy thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines in Los Angeles following high-profile demonstrations there in recent days are spreading nationwide and were expected to continue into the weekend.
Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X. Review-Journal staff photographer Chase Stevens contributed to this report. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
